{"id":815669,"date":"2022-09-27T13:40:49","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T13:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2022\/09\/trey-hollingsworth-bank-of-america-revolving-door-lobbying\/"},"modified":"2022-09-27T13:40:49","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T13:40:49","slug":"a-congressman-openly-admitted-to-corrupt-revolving-door-hiring-during-a-televised-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/09\/27\/a-congressman-openly-admitted-to-corrupt-revolving-door-hiring-during-a-televised-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"A Congressman Openly Admitted to Corrupt, Revolving-Door Hiring During a Televised Hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n  \n\n\n\n<h3>How comfortable are sitting members of Congress with broadcasting brazen corruption to the world? Well, during a televised hearing, Indiana representative Trey Hollingsworth gushed thanks to Bank of America\u2019s CEO for hiring his top aide.<\/h3>\n<hr\/>\n\n<figure>\n  <img alt src=\"https:\/\/images.jacobinmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/27125415\/hollingsworth-900x548.jpg\"\/>\n  <figcaption>\n    Indiana representative Trey Hollingsworth thanked Bank of America's CEO for hiring his top aide during a televised committee hearing. (Sarah Silbiger \/ UPI \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images)\n  <\/figcaption>   \n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n  \n  <p>Throughout his career in Congress, Representative Trey Hollingsworth (R-IN) has spearheaded initiatives to help lobbyists and his financial industry donors shield banks from regulation and exempt them from predatory lending rules. Now, just after Bank of America was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.consumerfinance.gov\/about-us\/newsroom\/federal-regulators-fine-bank-of-america-225-million-over-botched-disbursement-of-state-unemployment-benefits-at-height-of-pandemic\/\">fined<\/a>\u00a0$100 million for mistreating unemployed workers, the third-term Indiana lawmaker used a congressional hearing to publicly commend the company\u2019s CEO for hiring his top aide, Sruthi Prabhu.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to let you know \u2014 Sruthi, raise your hand, Sruthi. She has been my team member for a couple of years, but [next week], she becomes a Bank of America team member,\u201d Hollingsworth said. He added that \u201cshe is very, very excited, so I hope you\u2019ll take good care of her and know and recognize the talent that she has shown already in our office. I\u2019m sure she\u2019ll do the same at Bank of America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll do that, and her father already works for us,\u201d Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan replied. \u201cSo he\u2019ll take care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The exchange offered a rare, on-camera look at the revolving door between Congress and the financial industry, as well as the remarkably cozy relationship between lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee and big banks. And if you ever wonder whether CEOs at Fortune 500 companies are acutely aware of who they are hiring from Congress \u2014 even mid-level hires \u2014 the answer is apparently yes.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is inexcusable.<\/p>\n<p>A truly wild moment yesterday from the House Financial Services Committee, where they laugh about the revolving door from Congress to the banks. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LnHDlj6ZJu\">pic.twitter.com\/LnHDlj6ZJu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/unusual_whales\/status\/1572984208825655296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 22, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was in the room when this happened and it was just as gross and wild in person as it is here,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AOC\/status\/1573033233457254400\">tweeted<\/a>\u00a0Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. \u201cPeople rightly discuss conflicts of interest of members of Congress, but lobbying of senior staff (who move on behalf of members + committees) is a huge part of the problem too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hollingsworth\u2019s comments to Moynihan on Thursday were no aberration. As banks were raking in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/graphics\/2022-bank-overdraft-fees-costing-consumers-billions\/?leadSource=uverify%20wall\">billions in overdraft fees<\/a>\u00a0during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hollingsworth used a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/event\/117th-congress\/house-event\/LC66996\/text?s=1&amp;r=81\">hearing<\/a>\u00a0with Moynihan and other big bank CEOs last year to praise banks for what they \u201chave done throughout the course of this pandemic and the lifeline that they have served to countless businesses and American families.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He continued:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>To the tens of thousands of those employees who work in Indiana&#8217;s Ninth District, and the millions of Americans who work in financial services all across this country, I want you to know you were not found wanting in this crisis. We are deeply grateful that America&#8217;s economy is recovering and was able to function throughout the crisis because of the work you did every single day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hollingsworth has been a reliable ally of the financial industry in Congress. In 2018, he\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cutimes.com\/2018\/03\/20\/lawmakers-to-mark-up-bill-exempting-banks-cus-from\/?slreturn=20220823022246\">proposed<\/a>\u00a0legislation that would have exempted banks from <a href=\"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2014\/10\/the-new-loan-sharks\">payday lending<\/a> rules. According to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.responsiblelending.org\/sites\/default\/files\/nodes\/files\/research-publication\/crl-hr4861-bankpayday-bill-mar2018.pdf\">Center for Responsible Lending<\/a>, the bill would have allowed banks to once again offer payday loans with interest rates of 200 to 300 percent.<\/p>\n<p>The House Financial Services Committee, on which Hollingsworth sits, is known as a fundraising committee because it puts members in a prime position to raise money from big banks and Wall Street. Indeed, Hollingsworth\u2019s top campaign\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/members-of-congress\/trey-hollingsworth\/contributors?cid=N00038429&amp;cycle=CAREER\">donors<\/a>\u00a0have included the American Bankers Association and Mortgage Bankers Association, two bank lobbying groups. The donation figures are relatively small, likely because Hollingsworth is immensely wealthy.<\/p>\n<p>Hollingsworth is worth about $75 million, making him the ninth-richest member of Congress, according to a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/wealthiest-members-congress-house-senate-finances-2021-12#9-rep-trey-hollingsworth-a-republican-from-indiana-74629062-17\"><em>Business Insider<\/em><\/a>\u00a0review of his financial disclosure. Much of that comes from a real estate investment company that Hollingsworth\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.knoxnews.com\/business\/brewer-youth-an-asset-in-this-case-ep-411140982-359800231.html\/\">started<\/a>\u00a0at the age of twenty-four, reportedly\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/indystar.com\/story\/news\/2016\/04\/25\/trey-hollingsworth-joseph-hollingsworth-hollingsworth-capital-partners-greg-zoeller-indiana-ninth-congressional-district\/83274574\/\">with financing<\/a>\u00a0from his father, that buys large industrial warehouse sites.<\/p>\n<p>During his first congressional race, Hollingsworth\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.indystar.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2016\/12\/14\/millionaire-rep-elect-trey-hollingsworth-asking-help-campaign-debts\/95441888\/\">spent roughly $3 million<\/a>\u00a0of his own money on his campaign, while his father created and funded a super PAC with $1.5 million to help him.<\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fox59.com\/indianapolitics\/indiana-gop-rep-trey-hollingsworth-wont-seek-reelection-after-serving-3-terms-in-us-house\/\">potential<\/a>\u00a0candidate for governor in 2024, Hollingsworth is retiring from Congress this year, which could be why his senior staffers are now cashing in.<\/p>\n<p>Prabhu, who\u2019s heading to Bank of America, has worked in Hollingsworth&#8217;s office since 2020, most recently as a senior policy advisor covering financial issues, among other topics, according to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.legistorm.com\/person\/bio\/274442\/Sruthi_Prabhu.html\">Legistorm<\/a>. Prabhu\u2019s father currently works as a senior information architect at the bank.<\/p>\n<p>Prabhu is following in the footsteps of Hollingsworth\u2019s former chief of staff, Rebecca Shaw. In January, a week before Hollingsworth announced his retirement, Shaw\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/teamsubjectmatter.com\/blog\/subject-matter-welcomes-rebecca-shaw-to-government-relations-team\/\">joined<\/a>\u00a0the bipartisan lobbying firm Subject Matter.<\/p>\n<p>Her clients have included the credit card processor Square, credit card company\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lda.senate.gov\/filings\/public\/filing\/8bd5da84-7432-4dd0-bb3a-9157b606ce01\/print\/\">Capital One<\/a>, financial services company\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lda.senate.gov\/filings\/public\/filing\/65622b8f-ff91-43d2-914e-178302f44d49\/print\/\">Capital Group<\/a>, and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lda.senate.gov\/filings\/public\/filing\/78564579-f023-4ecf-8ec6-9aa0d980bd52\/print\/\">Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association<\/a>, a lobbying group for securities firms and investment banks.<\/p>\n<p>Shaw has also worked with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lda.senate.gov\/filings\/public\/filing\/f82e642e-cbc0-483a-8c79-08f292f3c064\/print\/\">DeFi Education Fund<\/a>, an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/defi-education-fund-defends-controversial-10-2m-uni-liquidation\">advocacy group<\/a>\u00a0for the decentralized finance industry. Last month,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/deficon.nyc\/schedule\/\">Prabhu<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BlockchainAssn\/status\/1556733744811212807\">spoke<\/a>\u00a0at the organization\u2019s conference on its \u201cCongressional Confessional\u201d panel.<\/p>\n\n  \n\n    \n           \n    \n\n   \n  <hr\/>\n  <p>You can subscribe to David Sirota\u2019s investigative journalism project, the<i>\u00a0Lever<\/i>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2022\/09\/trey-hollingsworth-bank-of-america-revolving-door-lobbying\/\">Jacobin<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Throughout his career in Congress, Representative Trey Hollingsworth (R-IN) has spearheaded initiatives to help lobbyists and his financial industry donors shield banks from regulation and exempt them from predatory lending rules. Now, just after Bank of America was\u00a0fined\u00a0$100 million for mistreating unemployed workers, the third-term Indiana lawmaker used a congressional hearing to publicly commend the [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1649,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1649"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":815670,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815669\/revisions\/815670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}